Media, coaches pick Izzo's Spartans to win Big Ten

AP PhotoDrew Neitzel, seen here at MSU media day earlier this month, was voted the conference's preseason player of the year

CHICAGO -- The news didn't faze Drew Neitzel.

Then again, not much bothers the senior on Michigan State's basketball team.
Neitzel and Michigan State were picked to win the Big Ten in one poll released by the conference and another of 22 beat writers during Sunday's media day at the Chicago Marriott O'Hare.

"That's something we embrace," said Neitzel, who was also voted the conference's preseason player of the year. "Coach (Tom) Izzo has done a great job of building this program up and building those expectations. We're excited about it. We want to be ranked high at the end of the year, too."

In both polls, Indiana was picked second and Ohio State third.
Michigan State, which returns its starting five from last season's 23-12 team, got 18 of a possible 22 first-place votes in the media poll.

"You're under a microscope," Neitzel said. "You lose one or two games, and people think you're an underachiever. People expect you not to lose. You've got to take it for what it's worth and stay focused on the team and on the task at hand."

On the other side was Michigan, which was picked eighth in the conference in the media poll. The poll released by the Big Ten picks just the top three teams.

First-year coach John Beilein told everyone who stopped by his table Sunday that the Wolverines are a work in progress. The challenges right now are about more than installing his complex offense and 1-3-1 zone defense; they're about teaching fundamentals to an inexperienced roster.

"We have a lot of work to do. A tremendous amount of work. ... Valuing the ball, playing defense all the way through to the end, talking and communicating," Beilein said. "I can't single anybody out because there's so many issues of little details. ...
Too much is being made of the system. I'm just talking about playing and winning college basketball games."

Added senior Ron Coleman: "We've got a lot of learning to do."

The first half of Saturday's closed scrimmage at Kent State produced 68 video clips Beilein planned to watch Sunday night. Just five were positives.

There's another way of looking at that, too.

"They're all good because they're instructional," Beilein said. "That's the good part."

But Beilein, one of three new coaches in the conference along with Minnesota's Tubby Smith and Iowa's Todd Lickliter, has rebuilt programs before. He smiled Sunday as he shook hands, exchanged jokes with media and his players and answered questions, never letting his cup of coffee out of sight.

Michigan's exhibition opener is Thursday, but none of the stress of the programwide construction project showed.

"This is great because it gets you to re-examine things," Beilein said. "You become a better coach, and they become better players. But it's far different right now than in a Bo Ryan practice or Tom Izzo practice where everything is in place."